Continental, Newtown

It's finally really happening. Elvis Abrahanowicz and Joe Valore
of Porteño and Bodega are opening a deli and bistro on
Australia Street. Continental will bear no similarity in offerings
to its sister venues, and will open as a deli on 28 September, with
the upstairs bistro launching a month later. Abrahanowicz tells us,
it'll be "your classic deli", serving smallgoods, cheese, and
specialty items, with a focus on "canned goods and tinned
fish".

"It'll be a deli seven days a week," he says, "and it'll be a
bar and bistro at night. We've got a canning machine, so we'll be
doing all the canning on site and serving other canned seafood as
well."

The evening menu is still in the works, but Abrahanowicz
promises share-friendly European-accented eats made with local
produce.

Jesse Warkentin, who cut his teeth in the kitchen at Porteño,
will man the pans, while bartender Mikey Nicolian, who also has a
long history with the group, will take care of the drinks and the
floor.

The team are designing the space themselves, channelling a
"classic deli look" heavy on marble and timber. "It's only a really
small space," says Abrahanowicz. "It's got two small rooms upstairs
where there'll be a big communal table - that seats about 12 or14 -
and the front room probably only seats about 20 people."

It's a project he and Valore have wanted to work on for a long
time. "It was a dream," says Abrahanowicz. "Growing up, on the
weekends, that was breakfast. You'd wake up on Sunday morning and
the table would be full of brown paper bags open with mozzarella
and salami, and breakfast would turn to lunch."

That said, expect the tunes and the vibe to be a little louder
than your average Sunday morning. This is team Porteño, after
all.

"It's like all our other venues," says Abrahanowicz. "It's going
to be pretty fun."